television

GM’s Cruise self-driving unit is hosting a special event at the end of November, the company revealed today via invites to select media. The tagline for the event is “Come experience our vision of a self-driving future,” and while advance details are scarce, it sounds likely that Cruise will take the opportunity to allow media and other guests to experience their pilot… Read More

Live TV streaming service YouTube TV is now becoming available on actual TVs with the launch of dedicated apps for smart TVs, streaming devices and gaming consoles. Following its rapid expansion across the U.S. since its April debut, Google’s popular competitor to Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, Hulu Live TV, and DirecTV Now, is available to two-thirds of the U.S., including the top 50… Read More

Twitter has banned Russian media companies Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik from advertising on its service after it found that both had “attempted to interfere with the [2016 U.S.] election on behalf of the Russian government” using the social network.
“This decision was based on the retrospective work we’ve been doing around the 2016 U.S. election and the U.S. Read More

Dish became the first U.S. pay TV provider to integrate with Alexa for hands-free TV back in May, when it introduced a way for Hopper and Wally DVR users to search for programs and control their playback experience using their voice. Today, the company says it’s expanding this support to its Joey clients, meaning Dish customers can now take advantage of voice control throughout their… Read More

DVR maker TiVo today officially confirmed the launch of its new DVR, the TiVo BOLT VOX, and its smaller counterpart, the TiVo Mini Vox, following yesterday’s leak. As had been reported, the biggest change is that these are the first TiVo DVRs to include a voice remote control, which allows users to search across live TV, DVR, video-on-demand and online streaming services just by… Read More

TiVo is nearing the launch of a new product in its BOLT family of DVRs, which can either be swapped in place of your cable company’s DVR, or, in the case of the original BOLT, be used by cord cutters who want a way to record over-the-air broadcasts. Now, ahead of any official announcement, a new BOLT product is appearing on Amazon, called the BOLT VOX. The device comes with a new… Read More

Nielsen is hoping to make the viewership numbers for the shows airing on streaming services a little less of a mystery. The company is today announcing a new service, Nielsen Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) Content Ratings, to measure streaming services’ programs in a way that’s comparable to linear TV. That includes ratings, reaches, frequency and segmentation reporting… Read More

Free streaming TV service Pluto TV announced today it has received a new $5 million investment from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, the VC arm of the Samsung Group. Combined with other investors, the full round totaled $8.3 million, the company says.
Pluto TV declined to disclose the other investors in the round, but said they’re a mix of both new and prior investors.
The… Read More

Plex is bringing its live TV streaming service to the U.S.’s most popular media player platform, with today’s announcement of its arrival on Roku. Plex’s software offers cord cutters a low-cost way to set up more of a DIY live TV service as an alternative to any of the now numerous subscription-based options for those ditching traditional cable or satellite television. Read More

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User feedback about Hulu’s new interface has not been entirely positive. In fact, a complaint about the new user interface is the most upvoted item on Hulu’s customer feedback forums, and is then followed by dozens of similar complaints which all say the same thing: it’s too hard to find shows, the interface is too difficult to navigate, the layout is confusing, and so… Read More

Top streaming media device maker Roku announced in September it was launching its own channel featuring free movies and TV shows, including those it licensed itself and those aggregated from other channels across its platform. However, the channel was not immediately available to all Roku customers, as it was a phased rollout.
That rollout has now completed, the company says this… Read More

Fresh off its first Emmy win for “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Hulu is dropping prices in an effort to attract new subscribers. The streaming service is lowering the cost for its entry-level, ad-supported plan from $7.99 per month to $5.99 per month – a price that undercuts rivals’ Netflix and Amazon Prime Video’s lowest monthly plans, at $7.99 and $8.99 per… Read More

Disney’s streaming service may still be years away, but the company this week has launched a new app for streaming Disney’s series, Disney Channel movies, live TV and music all under one roof, with the release of DisneyNow. The app is designed to consolidate Disney’s existing “Watch” streaming apps into one, including Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior and… Read More

Comcast’s own streaming service aimed at cord cutters and more so the ‘cord nevers’ who never sign up for cable, has now launched. The service, Xfinity Instant TV, is only available to Comcast’s broadband subscribers, where it aims to take on other over-the-top offerings like Sling TV, YouTube TV, Hulu Live TV and others, by offering a cheaper “skinny… Read More

CBS’s big bet on “Star Trek: Discovery,” the first Star Trek TV series since “Star Trek: Enterprise” wrapped in 2005, is also serving the network’s big bet on its over-the-top streaming service. While it’s too soon to know if the show will hold up over time, the early numbers are promising, the network says today. According to CBS, the show’s… Read More

Google has added a new feature that allows web users to contribute their own movie and television reviews right within Google search results – a step towards the possible implementation of Google’s own Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB-like reviews service. But before you get too excited about this, be aware that the feature is currently only available in India.
The addition was first spotted… Read More

Reelgood, a service aimed at helping cord cutters find new shows and movies to watch from across streaming services, is now available on mobile devices. The company this week launched on iOS – its first mobile application – which allows you to search and browse content from over 250 streaming services, including those that are available to stream for free with ads.
After abandoning… Read More

Fox is partnering with Twitter to promote its fall TV shows by airing select episodes and other related content on Twitter’s social network. This includes the new comedy series “Ghosted,” which will air nightly on Twitter for several days in September, before its television debut on October 1st.
While TV networks have traditionally turned to social media to promote their… Read More